N.Z. Party picks Mr Sandford

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 21

N.Z. Party picks Mr Sandford

PA i Wellington The New Zealand Party yesterday named Mr Kenneth Sandford, full-time chairman of the Accident Compensation Commission from its founding in 1972 until 1980, as its election candidate for Remuera. Mr Sandford, who is 68, is now practising as a barrister in Auckland.

The party’s spokesman, Mr Bob Jones, said there were few New Zealanders with Mr Sandford’s “astonishing” range of experiences — professionally, academically, administratively, artistically, commercially, and sporting. Noting Mr Sandford’s age, Mr Jones said, “The pushing aside of one of the Cabinet’s most alert and respected members, Alan Highet (who is 70), against his will and on the sole ground of his chronological age was a disgraceful episode.”

“Mr Sandford is the same age as Mr Highet. I find that most appropriate. There are 40-year-old ‘old men’ in Parliament and to evaluate a person’s worth on an age criterion is deplorable.” Mr Jones said he believed many Remuera voters would feel the same way and record their anger by voting for Mr Sandford. But he hoped voters would also weigh the merits of the party’s policies against the Government’s record.

Mr Sandford, a director of Mr Jones’ company, Robt Jones Investments, Ltd, has had wide experience in the law and financial fields and was a prominent cricketer, managing three New Zealand teams on overseas tours.

He was an infantry captain overseas from 1940-45. One of three books he has written is the best-selling “Mark of the Lion," the

biography of the double V.C. winner, Charles Upham. The party yesterday also named its candidate for Birkenhead — Mrs Janie Pearce, aged 40, a teacher, lawyer, and now an insurance broker. Mrs Pearce’s special interests are education and constitutional reform.